Chartastic

Chartastic is a free online charting service that offers ample, easy-to-use features. Though technical analysts will find the website of greater utility, due to its primary annotation function, it can also be a useful resource for any trader.

By going to www.chartastic.com, users will find they can begin charting right away without creating an account first. After entering a ticker symbol on the home page, the website will display a rather basic chart, which can then be altered. For instance, a user can select from some essential chart styles, such as OHLC (open, high, low, close) or candlestick, and change the chart’s time frame and intervals. Users can also add overlays and technical indicators, such as volume, RSI (Relative Strength Index), and stochastic oscillator, to their charts.

These are useful features, but they should be available on any decent charting website or program. Part of what distinguishes Chartastic from these other services is its annotation feature. Though many services also offer an annotation feature, Chartastic makes its annotation feature remarkably easy to use. To begin annotating, simply go to the “Draw” window located next to the chart or, if the window is not already open, select the “Draw” button, located just above the chart. To draw a trend line, first select “Trend,” along with the desired color and width of the line, then click and drag anywhere on the chart to draw a line. These lines can be fine-tuned by selecting, holding, and moving one of the yellow circles located at both ends of the line. To delete a line, select it and press “Delete” on the keyboard. The horizontal line is particularly useful for drawing support and resistance lines, while the arrows are great for indicating peaks in trends.

Since technical analysts, more often than not, analyze more than one chart, Chartastic opens each chart in its own tab within the website. These tabs, located directly above the chart, are the windows the user has opened on Chartastic. Those who are not signed in to an account will notice a “Welcome” tab that allows them to annotate another chart in its own tab while being able to go back to their other charts via the tabs. Those who are signed in to an account will notice different tabs with more options, such as “My Charts” and “My Account.”

Creating an account on Chartastic is free and easy, allowing the user to save their charts and annotations to their account and access them from anywhere. Though seemingly a minor feature, being able to save everything directly on the website is quite essential, as technical analysis requires constant updating and monitoring. However, infrequent website users can download charts to their computer by selecting the save icon located to the right of the chart indicators menu.

Chartastic also offers an abundance of sharing options. Users can email their charts, embed them on their website, create a permalink to them, post them on Facebook, and more.

Users should note that Chartastic.com is a startup and is currently in its beta testing phase. However, given its abundance of features and ease of use, this should not be a deterrent.